General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Mensa Otabil, has expressed serious concerns regarding the behaviour of certain pastors in Ghana, suggesting that their conduct is detrimental to the faith of the public.
He noted that the recent actions and statements of some clergymen are leading to a decline in trust and faith among believers.
The respected pastor lamented the absence of a governing authority in the religious sector that would assess and verify individuals before granting them pastoral titles such as prophet or bishop.
Pastor Otabil cautioned that if religious leaders fail to act in alignment with God’s intentions, they risk losing the confidence of the community.
“As a charismatic church, we see so much power, and maybe that is what all of you see. But I see so much danger and so much self-destruction, so much dissipation of confidence. More and more, the congregation and the public are losing confidence in us. They are losing confidence in men of God, in clergymen. If you call yourself a prophet, it’s almost like a title meaning conman.
“How can we take such a sacred title that Isaiah had, that Jeremiah had, all of these great people, and commoditise it and cheapen it so much that now this noble title almost means a conman?
Because there is no regulatory body, everybody picks titles as they want and parades with it,” he said while preaching to a congregation at the Desert Pastures, Bolgatanga (home church of Rev. Eastwood Anaba).
This statement is made amidst a period when several self-proclaimed prophets have been vocal about their insights and forecasts concerning the upcoming 2024 general elections.
